Arlene Is Alone with Brent Butt

Brent Butt, creator and star of Corner Gas, joins Arlene for a conversation about finding his voice in comedy. Brent shares where he first discovered his passion for making people laugh, how his family reacted when he told them he wanted to pursue comedy, and why humor matters most when we're navigating dark times. Plus, stories about growing up in a small Saskatchewan town where there were more Butts than you'd expect. This is Brent Butt—funny, thoughtful, and as authentic as they come.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And I remember that feeling of like really getting hooked on that feeling of like trying to make them laugh and trying to sort of think beyond my years, trying to think a little more grown up than I was so that I could make them laugh.

SPEAKER_04 0:13

So your mom and dad had to have a sense of humor. They had seven years.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

I mean, they had to have And the last name but you gotta be able to take some ribbing. Although it was very common in my hometown, my last name. I it wasn't until I started playing hockey on the road with your name on the back of your sweater and people yelling stuff out. That was when I first because it was like Smith in my hometown. There were so many of us and cousins and things, and so everybody was related. Yeah, there was a lot of butts in my hometown.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Come on, you said that locked on.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

No, I mean it just it's it's true.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Hi everyone, it's Arlene Dickinson. Welcome to this week's episode of Arlene Is Alone. Brent But is a Canadian comedy institution. The creator and star of Corner Gas, one of the most successful sitcoms in Canadian television history, he spent decades making people laugh through stand-up, writing, and acting. But before the fame, before corner gas became a cultural phenomenon, Brent was a kid from a small town in Saskatchewan, discovering that making people laugh was what he was meant to do. In this conversation, Arlene and Brent talk about where he first discovered his passion for comedy, how his family reacted when he told them he wanted to pursue it, and why comedy matters most when times are darkest. Unfiltered and hilarious as ever.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

Hi everyone, and welcome to this episode of Arlene is alone. And today I am alone with Brent Butt.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Not so bad, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:55

I love being alone that's you.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

If you gotta be alone with somebody, I would pick you.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

Yeah. I did pick you.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Somebody non-threatening, uh soft. That's that's how I see myself. Soft and non-threatening. As I describe, I'm soft and non-threatening. No, that's not true.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

How do you see yourself?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Uh I see myself as lazy, but often people say to me, you're not lazy. Like look, you know, you've done this, you've done this, you've done this. But I always say those are things, those are all things you can do sitting down.

unknown 2:25

Right?

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Okay, so you're not an exercise.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

No, that's what it is. Physically I'm lazy, but mentally I'm active. Fairly active.

SPEAKER_04 2:33

Fairly active.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Although I couldn't think of the word active just there.

SPEAKER_04 2:36

Because that took some that some bit of downtime. That took some work to think of the word. I think I'm lazy too.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Oh yeah?

SPEAKER_04 2:44

Yeah. I like I mean I I I work out, but I have to like really force myself to work out.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Like I'm not a natural state.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

No, given a choice, sit on the couch or you know, and work I would probably do that.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

I think laziness gets a short shrift because I think many of our greatest developments come as a direct result of us going, This sucks. There's got to be a better way to do this, right? I think that's how we as humans have everything. The pillow was invented because sleeping with your head on a rock stinks. Cars were invented because, like, this walking everywhere, this is terrible. So I think many of our greatest achievements are directly related to our laziness. Yeah, I I mean This will be like I I shouldn't do a special called In Defense of Laziness.

SPEAKER_04 3:33

I think it would.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

It's all coming together. As we sit here. Can I get a copy of this? I'd like some of the people.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

I could be, I could, I could, I could be your uh exhibit A.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

We want to share with you exhibit A of what lazy looks like.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, but I mean you're a good example of like you're somebody who's done a lot, does a lot, and yet professes to be lazy.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

We're two of a kind. We're two peas in a pod.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

They're two peas in a pod. When do have you like to entertain 24-7?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

My wife doesn't think so.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

No. What does she think?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Nancy, uh, she gets her fill of it quick. But uh but she's very entertaining. She's like she makes up songs, she dances around the house. I would tell her she my wife is kind of like a little kid. My wife will say, Look at me, watch me. She'll say that to me. Like, I'll be doing something, she'll go, hey, watch this. And she'll like do a little dance move.

SPEAKER_04 4:23

Really?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

Are you guys the same age?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Yeah?

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

So she's still active. So she's the one who has all the energy to work the lazy shit.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

She's far more act, she's in terrific physical condition.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Well, lucky you.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

Now you met on set.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, we met doing corner gas. Although technically we had met before, but I didn't really, we never hung out. I didn't know her that well. And then um, when we were casting Corner Gas, we were having a hard time casting the character of Wanda. We, you know, read a lot of really talented actors, but nobody was really quite nailing it. And then our um casting director said, Would you be willing to look younger? Because I'd originally written Wanda character to be a little bit older. Sort of like between my age and my dad's age. So it's sort of a symbolic bridge between the two of us. But and I said, Yeah, she could be younger. There's no reason specifically why not. And she said, because you know who I think would be really good in this role is Nancy Robertson. And I said, Yeah, she's really funny. And she auditioned and nailed it and uh became everybody's favorite right away.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

Apparently it became your favorite.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Yeah, we just hanging out, we got to know each other, talking in between scenes and stuff like that, and we had a lot of similar interests. We both like, you know, old movies, we both like old showbiz. And that was one of the first things it really we connected on. So it wasn't love at first sight, it was a like Yeah, it was just a yeah, slow burn, uh a realization that um we realized, you know, when you look at your call sheet in the morning, what scenes are you doing? We're like, we realized we were looking forward to shooting scenes together. That was the that was the start of it all.

SPEAKER_04 6:08

Really? How long into the working relationship before you actually started the digging relationship?

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Um, I couldn't tell you, I couldn't tell you. No, but we you know, we got married in 2005 and we started filming in 2003.

SPEAKER_04 6:24

So oh so free put somewhere in between there and twent so 21 years of marriage.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

What's the advice to people who are thinking about getting married?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Um, well, I think a big part of it is marrying the right person. You know, we didn't get married till 40, right? So it was uh yeah, taking time, not rushing into it, finding the right person that you really you gotta just enjoy the company of the person you're with because you know you're gonna spend a deuce of a lot of time with whoever you end up with. So try not to marry somebody that you don't like to be around.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

Yeah, I'm not sure how profound that advice is. Marry somebody that you can spend some time with.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, I tried to make it sound profound, but maybe it is profound.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

But I I like the marry somebody that who wants to dance and watch you will and have you watch them.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:16

Marry somebody who you can you can make a joke and they can tell you when they've had enough. Like those are that that's what we just said.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

We we do get along really well that way. We really like we're both kind of goofs and we both entertain each other. And we also both sort of, I don't know, we sort of have a sense of when to turn to dial it back, when maybe the maybe the other person's not in the mood or that kind of thing. You you sense so I think we're both sensitive to each other and we both entertain each other.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

Yeah. What what how old were you when you said I want to become a comedian?

SPEAKER_01 7:52

I was pretty young. I was 12 when I told my mom I want to do stand-up comedian. The first time I saw a comedian, I'd never I'd never seen a stand-up comedian. I'd seen lots of like sketch comedy and sitcoms. I was a big fan of comedy, but growing up in Tisdale, Saskatchewan, had two channels, and there weren't there wasn't a lot of showbiz. Yeah, CBC and and CTV. So we had the CBC affiliate out of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and then we that was CKBI, and then we had the CFQC, CTV affiliate out of Saskatoon, and that was it. We didn't get cable till into the 80s. So I'd never seen a stand-up comedian, and then from right here in Vancouver, there was a show called the Alan Hamill Show. Remember that? I too. And then later became the Alan Thick Show, sort of a showbiz afternoon talk show. And I was home from school, summer holidays, and I was in the living room, the TV was on, and the show started up the Alan Hamill show, and they were saying who the guests were going to be, and they said, and comedian Kelly Monteith. And I knew, well, that must have something to do with comedy, comedian. So I'll watch that. And I'd never just seen that. Somebody walk out and just stand there and talk and be funny. And it just, it's the only thing that made sense to me. And when that was over, I walked out. Mom was doing the dishes in the kitchen. I said, I want to be a comedian.

SPEAKER_04 9:11

And what did your mom see?

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Well, I jokingly I say she said, go do it outside. But um, that's not really what she said. Well, why do you want to do that? And we just had a chat about it. And it was very sort of, um, you don't realize at the time how good you how good you got it, you know, but like I was in a very supportive, sort of non-judgmental, like when I talked to many, so many of my comedian friends, they had this sort of, they had to battle through their family's disappointment or their family trying to talk them out of it, you gotta be a doctor or whatever. And I never had any of that. It was all very kind of like find something you're keen on. And if you're not breaking the law, if you're not hurting anybody, give it a whirl. It was a very kind I grew up in a very kind of sure, give it a whirl kind of environment.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

Was that because it was Tisdale, Saskatchewan? How big is Tisdale? Like a few thousand people?

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Well, it's the hub of the Carrot River Valley.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

So the Carrot, the Carrot River Valley.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

The Carrot River Valley.

SPEAKER_04 10:11

Was it Carrot River Valley?

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Um, yeah. You gotta you gotta have a pretty detailed atlas before you get that kind of information. It's about three thousand people.

SPEAKER_04 10:21

Okay, so bigger than I thought.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, it was like there was all these little towns, you know, Crooked River, Elderslea, Sylvania, Star City, they would all feed in. Tis though was like the come get your groceries or your fan belt for your truck or whatever. Yeah, it was the hub. So, but it wasn't a big showbiz hub. So, but for whatever reason, I was just really drawn to showbiz. And um, yeah, like I said, it's the only thing that sort of made sense. Aside from being, you know, an NHL goalie or a costume crime fighter, those are the only other two things that I was sort of keen on. But I felt there was a those were real long shots.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

Um, button to be a supermodel, but it's the same thing. It was a bit of a ball.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Sometimes you get, you know.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

You have dreams.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

But I was able to make my friends laugh, and I was able to make my siblings laugh sometimes. I was the youngest of seven kids, so that was for me, that was the shoot.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

And you were the youngest? Yeah, I was you were spoiled rotten. Come on, you certainly compared what you wanted to do, and you're found was at all Brett wasn't maybe Brett wasn't.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

I did have it pretty easy compared to Yeah, you did. I'll I'll wear that for sure. But but all of them were really, it was like there was no sort of pressure to go, you have to do this. It was like just find what you want to do and don't hurt anybody.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

That was tell me about your those those growing up years, though. Like you're in a little community, because I I I was in a small community, so I I've lived in a community of 2,000 people. I know what that's like. It can feel very closed in, and it can also feel very warm because everybody does know you and tries to protect you, but everybody's also watching you all the time. So, what was that like when you were a little when you were a young kid growing up?

SPEAKER_01 11:58

For what like I said, for whatever reason, I was drawn to showbiz and I was drawn uh the idea I didn't understand why we lived in a little town. It was like, well, why don't have you not heard of New York City? Like, why are we what are we doing here?

SPEAKER_04 12:12

What did your dad do for a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 12:13

My dad all my life, he ran the boiler room at this um honey processing plant. And I was like, this New York is lousy with boilers. Every building's got a boiler. We could you could probably get a gig there. Spider-Man lives there. Come on, this is but and you know, I and I really wanted to pursue show business. But I do remember specifically, because all my my family is all very funny. My parents could both both make me laugh, and my siblings, you know, we'd made each other laugh. We didn't have a lot of money and a lot of mouths to feed, so you just got to entertain yourself, right? And if I could ever make my older brothers and sisters laugh, because they didn't give it up easy, so it was legit if I ever made them laugh, and I remember that feeling of like really getting hooked on that feeling of like trying to make them laugh and trying to sort of think beyond my years, try and think a little more grown up than I was, so that I could make them laugh.

SPEAKER_04 13:09

So your mom and dad had to have a sense of humor. They had seven.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

I mean, they had to have and the last name butt.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

You gotta be able to take some ribbing. Although it was very common in my hometown, my last name. I it wasn't until I started playing hockey on the road with your name on the back of your sweater and people yelling stuff out. That was when I first because it was like Smith in my hometown. There were so many of us and cousins and things, and so everybody was related. Yeah, there was a lot of butts in my hometown.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Come on, you said that locked them up.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

No, I mean it just it's that just comes from my that's right.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

There was a lot of butts in my own doll. Do you do you when almost everyone had one?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Every I can't I didn't see, I have to assume. Um this is a big assumption on my part. True.

SPEAKER_04 13:56

So you but you you were doing like investigative reporting, so you don't know for sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

It was frowned upon. And my father had an act. Not everybody can say that. My father had an act that he did, like he would be asked to come perform at like you know, county fairs and things like that, and uh, and it was a hell of a thing. It was like he was a dancer, so he would dance and play the harmonica and cast the nets, and he had a puppet that danced with him, and it was this all like all at once. It was a it was a hell of a thing, and he and he was very much a showman, so I sort of got that from him, and then from my my mother was quietly funny. My mother was more like get a load of the shirt on this guy coming down the right. So I I sort of was in a great training ground where I was getting, you know, different styles of comedy at home.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

Are your parents still alive?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

No. Um, my father passed away when it was quite young, just after my 16th birthday. And um, my mom passed away 12 years ago now, almost 12 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

16 years old to lose your father. That's pretty that's pretty tough.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Yeah, and we were really close too. Like we it was really tough because he was like, you know, coached me in baseball and we would go fishing all the time, and I would go to work with him sometimes. Like the boiler room that he ran at the that honey processing plant was seemed like the bat cave to me. It was all just pipes and knobs and steamy things going off, and it was all dark in there. And uh, so I and when I was a really little kid, we lived a block away from his work, and then he bought a lot that was right across the street from his work, and that was his gag all the time was was he couldn't put up with the commute, he had to get closer to work, and so it was as a little kid, I would just run across the street and go hassle my dad at work, you know. So I w I grew up very close to my father, and um yeah, it was tough losing him then.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

Was he did he have an illness or was he just a heart attack?

SPEAKER_01 15:54

That seems to be my family. Like that seems to be uh have siblings with heart issues that they're dealing with, so it seems to be that's the thing that I try and stay ahead of. I talk to a cardiologist and you know, I've dropped some weight. That the thing too with my family is it's like how much of this is like a genetic, how much of this is lifestyle, right? Because there's a lot of us in the family of being abusive, smoking and bacon sandwiches, and you start thinking, okay, how how much of this are we bringing potato chips for breakfast? This is our topic. How much are we? Yeah, but it does seem to run in our family. So yeah, my father just had like the big massive heart attack and done. And he and he was in great shape. He was built like Charles Atlas. So it was feels like it was in it, and his brothers who some of his brothers, so it's in the family somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

It's a good question, you know. Like the whole genetics thing, I think you know, you you don't know, and then you can go now get these tests done that tell you pretty much way more than I want to know.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Like I don't want to know some of the I don't want to know the date that I'm gonna kick off.

SPEAKER_04 16:54

Or yeah, you're you I don't know, like I do think part of it is lifestyle for sure, but I think part of it is genetics.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Yeah, it's a it's a mix.

SPEAKER_04 17:02

It's hard to lose your parent at that age, though. I feel I I I would I lost my uh dad when I was in my 30s. Um, and that was hard enough. I can't imagine we losing a champ at that.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, it was tough. And then I I was also the only kid still at home. So it was just me and mom for uh a few years till I till I left uh left home. And um and then and we we had we were really like relying on each other. We we became we were already close, but we became super close in those you know few years after he passed away because it was just her and I.

SPEAKER_04 17:38

Did she stay in Tisdill?

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Yeah, yeah, so you go No need to be anywhere else. What do they got?

SPEAKER_04 17:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

That was like her attitude about things. I got all I need right here.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

What's your relationship like with your siblings now?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Good. Yeah, we all we probably don't talk as much as we should. I'm I'm bad for you know the problem is I hate talking on the phone. I was always like for me, the phone was always the purpose of the phone was like Wednesday, 6 p.m. That and me, and I'm in the wrong family for because my siblings are champion phone talkers, and so I I feel bad because I don't phone them as much as I uh probably should. But the two the two next youngest to me, uh what were they six and five? We text a lot. I like texting.

SPEAKER_04 18:27

You like texting?

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Because then you're not talking on the phone. There's no extraneous. I talk enough throughout the day. I don't want to also talk on the phone.

SPEAKER_04 18:34

Do you do a lot of emojis?

SPEAKER_01 18:36

No, I'm not a big emoji guy. Not really. Like I do that, I do two emojis, the thumbs up one. Which is that's a good well what is that bad?

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Yeah, I think some nowadays kids like don't like the thumbs up.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Well, I'm not texting kids, so that's um I have a restraining order that'll uh uh forbids me from uh communicating with anybody. No, that's not true. Somebody's like, see, somebody's just gonna clip that out.

SPEAKER_04 19:02

You can clip that and mine.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

No, but uh it's it's a it's a good way to say yeah, yeah, you know. I just do a thumbs up to somebody if they wanna.

SPEAKER_04 19:10

What's the other one? You lose the heart?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Uh the laughy face.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

Oh, of course the laughing.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

The laughing face, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Do you know that in Thailand, um, if you want to say that something's funny, you do five, five, five, five, five.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Really?

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Because it is it like on a metaphaic? Is it like because it sounds like people laughing?

unknown 19:30

Five, five, five, five, five.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Although now that I did that, I never heard somebody laugh like that. That was my immediate thought though.

SPEAKER_04 19:37

I never asked. I I I don't think that's why.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I'm gonna work it in from now on. I'm gonna laugh like that from now on.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

Five, five, five, five, five.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

That's their I wonder what the uh relevance is then.

SPEAKER_04 19:50

I don't know. I think you should do some research on it and find though you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

I will talk about it. I do a little thing once a week called What I Learned This Week. And so I'm always looking for things.

SPEAKER_04 19:58

This is what you've learned.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

This is what I've learned.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

Everybody uses the same emojis all around their hobbies have different meanings around the world.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

You could they'll get you killed in some places.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

It it could.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Now, what are the what do the kids have against the thumbs up emoji?

SPEAKER_04 20:12

There's something about uh what uh uh unli what is it? It's passive aggressive. Oh, it's passive aggressive. It's not it's not um Wow like is it It's a soft generation coming up. It it is with like the whips, right? Woo! Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

I gotta sit down. You gave me the thumbs up. I can't deal with this kind of layered hostility. Don't ever watch happy days, kids.

SPEAKER_04 20:38

They can't deal with it. They're passive aggressive.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

I didn't I never realized.

SPEAKER_04 20:43

But so recently myself, you know, like that somebody said, well, you know, don't do the thumbs up. Why can't I do the thumbs up?

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Yeah, it seems passive aggressive to me to try and dictate what emojis I can use. It seems more like that j they're being passive aggressive to me.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

No, I'm offended.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

I think you should be.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

I'm gonna storm out in the huff.

SPEAKER_03 21:03

You ever get offended?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Do I ever get offended? Absolutely, multiple times throughout the day. I mean uh it's often it's a but I'm kidding I I'm I'm more offended by like by uh like abuses of power, you know, like when you see it's we're at an especially weird time politically and just culturally seeing people in a position of power doing overtly cruel slash criminal things and getting away with it. And that's difficult for my little brain to process.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

I think it's difficult for the world to process it.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:43

We're all waiting for you know Superman.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Yeah, the bad guys are getting away with it, it feels like. And that's that's not how it it should be. But it's gonna take smarter people than me to figure that out. But to sit back and watch is hard.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

How do you maintain the sense of humor? In the midst of all this, because I think people would benefit from understanding that because it's hard. I I find that hard.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Well, historically, historically, comedy does really well in the worst times. You know, I people need it the most. And it's a very natural uh place for people to go to try and seek either, you know, there's there's many kinds of comedy, but painting with a broad brush, you can kind of say that there's sort of satire that tackles it head on, and then there's escapism to give you a break from it. And people seek seek those things out. Um when times are really, really good, that's when it's not so great to be a comedian.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

Well, yeah, but you still have to be funny yourself. Like you still have to find the humor in things when things are so dark.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Yeah, but it's it's really uh instinctual. It really is, you know, in talking to comedians, especially early on, when I was first getting into it and first meeting other comedians, and you know, it's this group of like-minded misfits, and you sit around and you talk about things that you it's hard to talk to other people about. And that's when I really started learning about comedy, what makes comedians tick. And it's really we all have this sort of thing where, because instinctually you process things funny, and the bulk of your day really is like self-censoring. You're really in a situation where you're like, okay, I thought of something that I think is funny, but if I say it in this situation, they're they're not going to interpret, interpret it as funny. They're gonna either take it literal or they're going to um, you know, sort of think I mean what I say, whereas I for me it's just a play on words. So comedians, we all have this sort of we're spending a lot of the day self-censoring. Because you you just process things funny first. It's whatever your psychological picadillo is, we're processing things funny first. It's just that, you know, 80 to 85% of it isn't appropriate in any given social situation. So um we're usually pretty good at masking it.

SPEAKER_04 24:08

I think I end up writing it down. Because I think when um when I talk to people, I process things through a business lens first.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yeah, it's like your instinctual.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

It's instinctual. It's what I know, it's what I'm comfortable, it's the world I'm comfortable in, is how I think. And then you have to say, well, can I say this to them, or is this gonna, you know, am I going too far? Yeah, what what right is it of mine to say something about their business? Yeah, that's similar. I'm constantly monitoring myself from a business perspective. So what you just said makes a lot of sense. And I think probably any artist is going through some or any person is going through some version of that through the filter of what they they know.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

It sometimes exhausts me a little bit. I I'm not gonna lie. Like sometimes there it always seeing the business opportunity in something can be tiring and can and and always having that filter, does it ever tire you out to the the filtering does?

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Um that's why it's so great to hang out with other comedians. I I remember Bob Newhart, who who was famous for like he just really loved hanging out with stand-ups.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

Um he was great.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

You know, hearing him talk about that, it was like you you can sort of it's when you can be the most yourself because the other comedians know you can say something um that would be the society would consider it horrendous, but the other comedians know that well, you don't mean what you said, it's about the twist or finding that angle or a weird surprise. And so it's great being with other comedians because you can you can drop your guard on all that stuff, and just the things that come into your head, you can just say them, and everybody appreciates it for what it is, and they know it's not the truth or what you really think, or you know, and they appreciate oh, that was a funny play on words, or that was a funny angle to take on that thing.

SPEAKER_04 26:03

I I spend some time, I went to Rick Mercer's show here and then who were never heard of him. Yeah, I know. I'll I'll introduce you.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

He's like good guy, good egg.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

Yeah. Um, he he his show was really great. And I went backstage and Darcy Michaels was there, and Rick was there, and Sophie Bud was there, and I witnessed what you just said, which was this kind of camaraderie of conversation that was like I didn't exist in the room. They were having their own kind of version of whatever they were thinking about. And I I I really love comedy. I love people who can think about and see the humor, but I'm always fascinated by how you do when things can be so depressing and dark. And and and there's a lot of comedians that are dealing with, like, you know, Robin Williams, and there's many who you know have either committed suicide or gone so dark, you know, like and yet they show up and entertain.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:53

And what's that what's the balance?

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Like, well, I think it is different for everybody, but like I said, like comedy is a terrific escape. So if you are battling demons, comedy is a way to process, you know, and and so that's why it's not uncommon to find artists, you know, writers, musicians, whatever, painters lopping their ears off, right? Because you got you're drawn to this creative outlet um as a way of processing whatever sort of pains you're going through. But having said that, it's not a um a requirement, it's not a it's not a necessity. It's being romanticized a bit, the notion of the the sad clown, right? Because it's there's an inherent dichotomy there that's attractive. He's miserable and he makes people laugh. And so that gets talked about a lot, but there are also a lot of really um, like I shouldn't say really, but like fairly stable, you know, normal people that just sort of enjoy enjoy the craft, enjoy the and the fun. And it's really fun. Like everybody knows what it's like to tell a joke at a dinner party or something and and get laughs. And it's like doing that all the time is awesome.

SPEAKER_04 28:18

Yeah. And I think you said something that really is sticking with me, which is sometimes people look at comedy and they they get offended by it. They think it's too on the nose, or it's you know, it's it's making fun of you know people that are struggling or people that are you know different. But to your point, comedy is to try and break that tension and to try and let people see that we all are kind of who we are.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

How how do you what what do you say to people who can't see the humor in humor?

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Yeah, I mean, it's it's uh it's a tough way to go through life. I have my sympathies for people who have no sense of humor. But I mean, I I I you know, I'm not a big proponent of comedy that just seeks out and attacks the vulnerable, right? Uh I remember uh James A. Castor cracking me up with about his thing about comics who are going after the trans community. Because yeah, you know, you know who's had too easy of a ride, you know, who's had it too good for too long. And there's there's a fair amount of that going on now with it where people are, I don't know, they they're their their drive is to not be funny, their drive is to be edgy, right? And and to me, it's like that's missing the point entirely. And kicking someone when they're down because society frowns on it doesn't make you something, right?

SPEAKER_04 29:44

No, I actually think Brad, that's really I I really appreciate what you just said because I think it is easy to there is humor that's really isn't funny. There is humor that shouldn't do the things that, you know, that's why I was kind of probing on the question because I I don't think that everything is not everything is funny, not every should be made fun of.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

I've I've always sort of held this notion that there is nothing taboo, there's nothing that's off limits, but there are some things that are so there are some things that are naturally and sensibly so sensitive that it's very difficult to do comedy about that without hurting someone. And you know, it's never been my motivation to hurt anybody. And now there are people who are gonna there's some people that go out looking to be hurt so that they can be wounded, and there's it's kind of a munchhausen kind of thing, right? They like to be to play the flag, you know, I've I've been wounded. How dare you? I I've had people come up to me after a show, like and I've always been kind of fascinated by this. People come up, because it doesn't happen a lot, because I'm a I'm a pretty, you know, I'm not a real edgy comedian. I'm not a real, but I've had people come up and say, you know, there's something in your act that offended me. And my response has always just been, okay. Yeah, I've been offended 11 times today. So everybody gets offended, right?

SPEAKER_04 31:20

I feel like there's there's um the world is in a a super dark place right now and a super bad place. But you as a great comedian, and you truly are a Canadian icon. You you you have done so much and you have brought so much joy to Canadians through Corner Gas and all of the different things. You wrote a book. I mean, uh, you know, I I I didn't even get a chance to ask you about your book, but you've done so much. You must have been asked to go to the US. You must have been asked to go down there and live there. Or did you ever not live there, but your career is there. This is such a bigger market. Yeah. You ever have to face that question?

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Well, I just sort of I I kind of did go in '92.

SPEAKER_04 32:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yeah, end of 92. I left Toronto. I was living in Toronto and headed down to LA because that was sort of the idea, right? And um I'd been kind of pegged like the next Canadian comedian to make it big in Hollywood, the Toronto Star, put that out in the story. And so I went down to LA and um like made some really good connections down there. Like I had a couple of managers who were uh keen on me, and they went on to manage like Jim Carrey and and Drew Carey and Tim Allen and half the cast of Saturday Night Live, and they were really influential guys, uh managers, although like not at the time that I was down there, but they were you know on the cusp of being. And so everything was sort of going right, but what I found was I couldn't, in order for me to do well, like when we were doing stand-up shows, I could do well as long as I wasn't really being myself. If I sort of Americanized it up, if I sort of knocked the Canadian knobs off how I talk, you know. And I just found I wasn't enjoying it that much. And I had to sort of put on this mask. And so I was in it, I was in this place of like, do I want to be here? Do I want to do this? And I would I was in Vancouver doing some shows. I had a bunch of work lined up Vancouver through the interior and over on the island and stuff, and I hadn't spent any time here. And I thought, I'm just gonna hang out here, figure out if I'm really gonna pursue the paperwork to work legally in the States. You know, I thought I'll I'll spend like three months in Vancouver. I got an apartment in the West End that you didn't have to sign a lease, you could go month by month. And I was in that apartment for 10 years, I just never left. Yeah, I was just like, once I started, you know, doing all my shows back in Canada again and and the city of Vancouver, I fell in love with. And I always say I never moved here, I just never left. And it became yeah, I just never wanted to be anywhere else. And that's why I called my production company Sparrow Media, because Sparrow is a bird that doesn't feel the need to fly south. And so whenever I see Sparrow Media on anything that I'm doing, I'm always reminded of that. Like you can be here and do stuff that you know corner corner gases in 60 countries now.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

Yeah, that's amazing. And and you and you produced you you wrote like you literally are the that not just the talent in the show, but it is your show, right? Every part of the show.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Yeah, I created the show and it was like my job as an executive producer to oversee the creative, but there was a talented team of you know, writers and actors, and it was such a you know, I really learned what a team sport, TV, and film is and I like it's so different from stand-up. Uh it it was really fun to to dive into this whole different other element.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

I'm so grateful that you created Sparrow Media and that you stayed here in Canada. Like you really, you're a you're a like a blessing to the country.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Oh, well, thank you. I'll take that. Yeah. I'm gonna put that, I'm gonna write that on something.

SPEAKER_04 35:04

You can have that. You tattooed on your butt if you want.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

You could that's where everyone will see it.

SPEAKER_04 35:11

See it. Any last words to the audience, Brent?

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Anything you want to say to um if you are looking for advice, I'm not the cat to come talk to. There are sharper marbles out there to go talk to.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

But there's another funnier.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Yeah, I'll entertain you for a couple minutes. It'll be I'll make it worth your while. I'm just not saying you're not gonna take anything away from it, probably.

SPEAKER_04 35:33

It'll be fun. It'll be funny advice. Um I hope listening to Brett has helped you on your journey and remembering that we all have to take a break from sometimes the darkness that's out there and listen to comedy and and understand that there's humor that can um brighten all of our days, even on a gray, rainy, crappy day in Vancouver. Um, thanks for the laughs.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Thanks for laughing.

SPEAKER_04 35:58

See y'all soon.